a blog by Enya

Top Ten Tuesdays: My Book-Related Struggles – #BEDS Day 15

The life of a bibliophile is not all fun and games. It is riddled with trifling decisions and near bleak consequences when you carry worlds in an armful of pages. Proceed and understand that following situations that are enumerated are exclusive to my experience, but on the whole, anyone who’s an avid reader may end up aggressively nodding as the text progresses.

The first is which the the nearest Fully Booked branch or NBS to me is in Cagayan de Oro City – an hour and 30-minute bus ride from where I’m from. Here in Iligan City, progress is slow, and for the past ten-and-seven years of my life, all I have is Booksale and even that was only recently opened.

Next is having to choose between NBS or Fully Booked on these (loose) monthly visits to CdeO – and there’s the matter of WHICH National Bookstore branch to go to. Sometimes I have problems with the National Bookstore branches in CdeO because some of the books they sell end up damaged after what I observe is poor maintenance and quality control. Not only do some of the books end up in the wrong category, but some end up folded, stained, and in some scenarios, end up with tears on the covers. I have no qualms with Fully Booked, in fact the only flaw I can think of is that they sometimes don’t have the books I’m looking for on hand are out of stock – but scenarios like that usually stem from my poor timing, than anything. Why is it hard to choose between the two? Book availability.

And then there’s forgetting to bring my wallet or my discount card on visits to Fully Booked. I know, how on Earth do I let things like that happen to me on the day I actually manage to drop by Fully Booked? How? Because I get giddy. I get excited. And then I forget things because of extreme emotions. It’s that simple, and that tragic.

For sure, I’m not along when it comes to Shelf Space. Some chairs have surrendered their usual use to become a base for a growing book tower. A quarter of my study table is dedicated to my textbooks and immediate references. And don’t get me started on the external references hidden under the bed. I know I need to get a new shelf but then the next problem would be where to put the second shelf in my itty bitty room?

This is a thing I do in all the bookstores I visit which is taking note of the more-than-thirty titles I want to take home in stores, but realistically, I can only buy one. Two, if I’m lucky. Maybe three if I starve myself by rationing my allowance, but food is important, too.

And to follow-up the choice of which book to buy, I then proceed to choosing the format of the book to buy – paperback because it’s cheaper or hardback because it’s lower maintenance. Unless you have a fixed preference, this is where my indecisiveness is painfully apparent.

For all those who are introverted, I know that choosing your honorary carry-around book, in case of reading emergencies is also a difficult choice to make.

And you know how when people identify you as a book-owner they start asking you if they could borrow your books? Assessing people who want to borrow your books may be one of the biggest struggles ever – checking to see if prospective borrower is capable of keeping your baby clean, with enough bag space to breathe, and overall sound survival under their care. This is a real thing.

Carrying huge-ass hardcover books because they’re your choice companion for the day. I remember the accidental arm workout from bringing the Harry Potter books to school so I could finish them when I first read them in 6th grade. Also The Mortal Instruments Series in high school, I kept them close while drawing mini-runes on my hands.

And last, but not the least, the no book-smell from the book-like experience from an eReader. I’m not against eReaders, heaven knows I would never be able to get though high school like I did with my reading-ninja skills. But book smell. Page-turning, not scrolling.

There’s plenty more where that came from, but the rule says ten so there’s ten. I hope you had fun reading that list, and enjoyed the unpleasantries that come with the truth that is the bookworm life.

Go forth and read, little and not-so-little Booksters!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish where each week, a new Top Ten List prompt inspires lists that can feature anything as long as it’s a list. And because it works as an effective writing prompt for those who need to develop their writing habits – especially my procrastinating self, I will TRY to make this a weekly thing.

On point! Good thing there’s a Newsies bookstore (kind of like a micro NBS) in my city. And because I’m currently in Iligan, booksale indeed is the only place of resort, but I make sure to stop by at Centrio before I go home to Butuan (which is very rarely). We share the pain and struggle on which book to buy because we can only have ONE. Tragic, really.